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Detective Duos
Sleuthing twosomes have long made their mark on detective fiction. From the unnamed narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter" who adroitly recounts the virtuosity of the Parisian detective, C. Auguste Dupin; to Dorothy L. Sayers's beloved Lord Peter Wimsey and Mr. Bunter; to Lillian Jackson Braun's interspecies partnership between Phut Phat (an investigative genius who happens to be a cat) and one of its owners; detective duos have come in all guises. Indeed, there are almost as many variations of compatriot crimefighters as there are types of mystery and detective fiction.
In this marvelous anthology, a real-life detective duo--married mystery novelists Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini--have brought together 25 of the best paired puzzle-solvers in short stories of remarkable range and scope. Here are traditional tandems: Sherlock and his admiring Watson, in a devilish puzzler "The Adventure of the Empty House," alongside Nero Wolfe and his (less fawning) employee, Archie Goodwin, in "Fourth of July Picnic." Husband and wife teams are well represented by Frances and Richard Lockridge's Mr. and Mrs. North, Kelley Roos's Jeff and Haila Troy, and Patrick Quentin's Peter and Iris Duluth. Amateurs work alongside professional crimesolvers in such stories as Julie Smith's never-before-published "The End of the Earth," featuring Skip Langdon and Steve Steinman, and the clue-seeking precursors to television's Quincy appear as partnered forensic pathologists Dr. Daniel Coffee and Dr. Motilal Mookerji in Lawrence G. Blochman's "The Phantom Cry-Baby." Sleuthing tandems come in different sexes, so we find Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone and Rae Kelleher alongside Fredric Brown's Ed and Am Hunter, as well as Bill Pronzini's Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon, where crime solving crosses barriers of both gender and time. And here too is a treasure chest of detective fiction styles: pure deduction, the impossible crime, the cozy, the dark comedy, espionage, the procedural, and more, in locales as varied as the crimes themselves, from England, to Antarctica, to fast-moving trains crossing America.
Spanning more than a century of crime fiction, including both classic tales by the greats of mystery writing as well as gems from lesser-known writers, Detective Duos will captivate the sleuth in all of us.
In this marvelous anthology, a real-life detective duo--married mystery novelists Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini--have brought together 25 of the best paired puzzle-solvers in short stories of remarkable range and scope. Here are traditional tandems: Sherlock and his admiring Watson, in a devilish puzzler "The Adventure of the Empty House," alongside Nero Wolfe and his (less fawning) employee, Archie Goodwin, in "Fourth of July Picnic." Husband and wife teams are well represented by Frances and Richard Lockridge's Mr. and Mrs. North, Kelley Roos's Jeff and Haila Troy, and Patrick Quentin's Peter and Iris Duluth. Amateurs work alongside professional crimesolvers in such stories as Julie Smith's never-before-published "The End of the Earth," featuring Skip Langdon and Steve Steinman, and the clue-seeking precursors to television's Quincy appear as partnered forensic pathologists Dr. Daniel Coffee and Dr. Motilal Mookerji in Lawrence G. Blochman's "The Phantom Cry-Baby." Sleuthing tandems come in different sexes, so we find Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone and Rae Kelleher alongside Fredric Brown's Ed and Am Hunter, as well as Bill Pronzini's Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon, where crime solving crosses barriers of both gender and time. And here too is a treasure chest of detective fiction styles: pure deduction, the impossible crime, the cozy, the dark comedy, espionage, the procedural, and more, in locales as varied as the crimes themselves, from England, to Antarctica, to fast-moving trains crossing America.
Spanning more than a century of crime fiction, including both classic tales by the greats of mystery writing as well as gems from lesser-known writers, Detective Duos will captivate the sleuth in all of us.
- GenresMysteryShort Stories
444 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
2 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Muller
165 books725 followersMarcia Muller is an American author of mystery and thriller novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 10 reviews
September 29, 2020
This is a compilation of short stories highlighting some authors I know and several with whom I am unfamiliar. To be honest, there are some real stinkers in this collection, maybe more so than good stories. I did, however, find an author who I didn't know who wrote a story that I really enjoyed and I will look for more of his work. The stories date from the days of Edgar Allan Poe through 1997 and I knew most of the older ones which I enjoyed re-reading. But I skipped a couple which started out badly and just moved on. There are some excellent collections of mysteries out there but this is not particularly one of them. I was a little disappointed.
April 21, 2021
I really wish I could give it 4.5 stars but this app doesn't let me. Any how, this book is really a stimulating experience since it's a bouquet like collection of my favourite genre, which is crime fiction. Any connoisseur of crime fictions, cosy mysteries, crime adventures and the lot, should definitely have this book at hand. It's worth it to have it in your shelf. There were some known classics which I really enjoyed re-reading it and some stories by authors Ive never heard off before but I really adored them.
But sadly out of the 25 stories I liked 20 of them, the other were so disengaging and boring that I had to skip them which really leaves a bad taste in your mouth. And I'm appalled to say that in the group of bad stories there was one written by Christie called, "The Love Detectives", which is so bad I feel that the editors could've gotten a better short story written by her. Stories from "Partners in Crime" are an instance. So that's why a potential 5 star book gets just 4.
P.S.: - A fun fact, I came to know about this book through a television series where one of the charectors was reading it in a book store in Calcutta.
But sadly out of the 25 stories I liked 20 of them, the other were so disengaging and boring that I had to skip them which really leaves a bad taste in your mouth. And I'm appalled to say that in the group of bad stories there was one written by Christie called, "The Love Detectives", which is so bad I feel that the editors could've gotten a better short story written by her. Stories from "Partners in Crime" are an instance. So that's why a potential 5 star book gets just 4.
P.S.: - A fun fact, I came to know about this book through a television series where one of the charectors was reading it in a book store in Calcutta.
June 18, 2025
A great collection of mystery short stories! I disliked two of the stories, but enjoyed all of the rest. It is also a nice mix of very well known and less familiar authors.
September 14, 2017
An excellent collection - every story is a different period, setting, style. A connoisseur of detective fiction will definitely enjoy this.
August 18, 2025
A variety from olden times to modern times, some stories better than others, some just boring and some fun. I read the Lilian Jackson Braun one keenly as I'm a cat lover; the humans didn't pick up on the smart cat's sleuthing and burglar fighting. The final story is set in a boat off Antarctica as a research vessel carrying tourists brings people within reach of trouble.
Some readers will want to read the book for completeness of a series they follow about particular detectives. However, it may not be worth the trouble of chasing up the book.
Some readers will want to read the book for completeness of a series they follow about particular detectives. However, it may not be worth the trouble of chasing up the book.
February 6, 2024
Some great but obscure stories and some classics, going in chronological order from the 1850s to the 1990s. A wonderful collection!
July 6, 2020
The author selection could have been more diverse. I did appreciate the inclusion of older stories as well as interesting female characters. The editors included stories of their own which I see as shameless plugs of their own work.
April 15, 2010
A truly comprehensive collection...new and classic authors. Very nice!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 10 reviews